We should have guns in schools, but we need to talk about who has guns in schools. It is very difficult to talk abou this subject without assuming hat teachers should have guns. The problem is that most teachers do not want to have guns in their classrooms. Because of this, there needs to be another way to protect kids and keep schools safe. Each step on this list will help put guns in schools where they need to be without forcing teachers to carry weapons just to do their jobs. 

1. Guns Do Not Necessarily Belong In Schools 

People who are lobbying to have guns in schools think that guns should be there. That is a fundamental flaw in their philosophy. Guns do not belong in schools. There should be no guns in schools. Guns should not need to be in schools, but we are in a place a a society where we have no choice. Because of this, we need to figure out who is going to have the guns when we allow them in. We want to have protection for all the people in the building just as we would provide protection for people at a mall or a rock concert. Use that logic to come to a conclusion that will make sense for the kids and the teachers. 

Guns should not be brought to schools just because people are concerned about the shootings that have happened in the past. We need to take a longer view of history, and we need to be careful about how we introduce guns to schools where we could scare kids, teachers, and parents who pass through. 

2. Who Gets A Gun? 

You need to think about what it would mean to start arming everyone who is in a space that you think is going to be responsible. Imagine going to the mall with your kids. Now imagine that you are given a gun because you are an adult. All adults are given a gun, and they are expected to shoot bad guy son the spot. This is scary for you, and it is scary for your kids. You would not give every adult at a rock concert a gun, and you would not ask every adult in a public park to carry a gun because we have had shootings at a public park in the past. 

You also need to think about this when you are lobbying for teachers to carry guns. You do not know the trauma behind each teacher and guns. You do not know if they have to time to learn how to use it, and you do not know it they can retrieve it load it, aim it, and fire it when they need to. You are asking a teacher to have the same reflexes as a Green Beret, and that is not helping the situation at all. 

3. Police 

You need to have police of security in every school. You need people int he building who know how to use guns, and you should make sure that you have talked to these people about how to comport themselves around kids. Most people who are guarding a school are going to be very interested in helping the kids, but you need to be sure that they understand what they are getting into in working in a school. These people need to know that the guns are for extreme situations, and they need to keep them holstered most of the time. 

The specter of a police car on a school campus is something that will keep a lot of people away, but they need to be there all the time so that the people who might do harm know that someone will be there to stop them. A person who is truly ready to hurt others will not care if a teacher has an unloaded gun in their desk. However, they might think twice if the police officer out front is wearing body armor. 

4. What About The Kids? 

Kids are going to feel helpless, and they should not be exposed to the specter of guns in their school. This is where you have to be much more thoughtful about how you protect people who need it. A police officer in a body suit covered in Kevlar is a little bit too scary for kids who are just trying to go to school. However, the kids who see a guy in a suit will not always notice he has a concealed weapon. This is much safer for everyone, and that is why you have to consider the deployment of the guns that you want to put in a school. 

Kids who are in the school could be the very same people who might want to use a gun on others. Putting guns in front of them is almost like a challenge. You are telling these kids that they should try to make the school into their own war one. Someone who is young, impressionable, and has access to guns could do horrible things when they think hey should challenge an adult they see carrying a gun openly. Concealing the guns at least makes it easier for the school to remain safe and to keep morale up. 

5. Who Has The Right To Enter? 

You could make your school harder to enter, but the only way to do that is to change the way that people come through the front door. You would put a locking door release not he front door, and you could have the reception desk moved to a window much like a doctor’s office. You can make sure that you know who you are letting in, and you might slow down the traffic of people who are coming in and out of the school. 

6. What About Administrators 

You have administrators in buildings every day who walk around, do not do anything that is truly active, and who can watch the security cameras in the building. You could ask that administrators have guns on their person at all times. You could send them to summer training, and they could wea r a concealed weapon that would never scare the kids because they would never see it. This is because the people who are in the building only see a person in a suit. Plus, you have taken the time to truly train these people how to shoot these guns so that they can do so safely. 

 

There are many people who think that we should have guns in schools. We need guns in schools to protect kids, but we need to start thinking about how we can keep guns out. We need to make schools a safer place to be, and we need to ask the right people to use them. There is a right way to make this work, and every school system needs to be more thoughtful about how they handle safety. Telling a teacher to keep an unloaded and locked gun in their desk is probably not the answer. Turn to police and security that blend in along with administrators you might have trained to carry and fire a weapon.